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Viral RNA in nerve tissues of patients with hepatitis C infection and peripheral neuropathy
Author(s) -
De Martino Luisa,
Sampaolo Simone,
Tucci Celeste,
Ambrosone Lucia,
Budillon Alberta,
Migliaresi Sergio,
Di Iorio Giuseppe
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
muscle and nerve
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.025
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 1097-4598
pISSN - 0148-639X
DOI - 10.1002/mus.10260
Subject(s) - peripheral neuropathy , cryoglobulinemia , hepatitis c virus , medicine , rna , virology , hepatitis c , reverse transcriptase , viral disease , nested polymerase chain reaction , polymerase chain reaction , reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction , peripheral , immunology , virus , pathology , messenger rna , biology , gene , endocrinology , diabetes mellitus , biochemistry
To assess the presence of viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) in nerve tissues of 15 patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and peripheral neuropathy with (11) or without (4) mixed cryoglobulinemia, nested reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) was performed. Amplification of HCV‐RNA was successful in 7 patients with and 3 without mixed cryoglobulinemia. This study demonstrates that the nested RT‐PCR technique is a sensitive method to detect viral RNA in nerve tissue, and offers further evidence that in patients with HCV infection peripheral neuropathy can occur in the absence of mixed cryoglobulinemia. Muscle Nerve 27:102–104, 2003